Learning Chinese

[chisness]

Chinese seems like a perfect language to learn right now, especially in the business/engineering fields. I'm only a sophomore right now, but:

1) Would it be smart to take a year off (delay starting work) after college to learn it (and just do poker on the side)?
2) Are there accelerated programs to learn it or are community college semester courses the best way? How about computer software?
3) Will it be possible to get a firm foundation in it in a year?

[El Ishmael]

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English seems like a perfect language to learn right now, especially in the business/engineering fields.

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FYP

[sushijerk]

I think this is a bad idea.

I'm not sure what positions you are looking for, getting a job first and getting your foot in the industry door is more important than learning a language which you may or may not use. Any job which will send you overseas will either require a Chinese major/minor from your college or an oral proficiency test that you will not be able to pass after only studying for one year.

Get a job first, and if you get so good at it that they send you to help develop business overseas, you will get a translator anyway.

[katyseagull]

My friend is taking beginning Chinese at a community center. She said it is really hard and will be a long time before she learns it. I get the impression it takes years.

[chisness]

Thanks for the comments. I also heard it is very hard, which means an accelerated program (if it exists) would be a difficult way to do it. There is software that might be worth trying cause I think it might be advantageous to have at least an intermediate grasp on it before getting a job.

[Dr. Strangelove]

You can aquire fluency in mandarin in one year if you have a talent for languages and don't mind devoting all your time to the effort.

[sexdrugsmoney]

Chinese is pretty tough to learn, and it'll take you virtually forever to acquire reading skills if you're teaching yourself.

Most college courses do it over 3 years, yet if you want to go the autodidactic route, definately get your hands on Pimsleur Chinese and learn it that way to begin with.

I'm sure there are a couple of OOT posters who are learning Chinese, maybe they can give you further pointers.

[7ontheline]

Chinese is very hard. Trust me, as I am Chinese. I think it is very worthwhile to study but it seems odd to take a year off unless you have a specific plan for it. Maybe you're specifically targeting an international business career or something, but otherwise I think it's not an efficient use of a year. I agree that if you really put your soul into it you could learn it pretty well in a year, but it would be a LOT of work. You would probably need to find someone to help you in addition to classes so you could practice.

[Jihad]

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English seems like a perfect language to learn right now, especially in the business/engineering fields.

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FYP

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GET HIS ASS! GET THAT MUTHA [censored]! FYP BANDIT YO!

[Stat Boy]

Anyone you will be doing business with in China as an engineer will probably already know english.